Part holding rack with detachably assembled members and method of making

ABSTRACT

A parts rack for holding automotive parts for shipping and storing parts in the course of assembling of automobiles including a three dimensional framework which is assembled from elongated members detachably connected together using steel connectors to allow shipping of the racks disassembled and to allow quicker deliveries and also readily allow reconfiguration, repairs, and salvage of components.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/883,611 filed on Jan. 5, 2007.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention concerns racks and more particularly racks for holding parts required in the production of automotive vehicles. Such racks are typically used to for bulky body parts during shipping, and also in plant storage and to hold parts for the sequencing necessary in the assembly process.

When a part holding rack is loaded it can be severely stressed during shipping by sudden stops, impacts, etc on trains and trucks, and must be sufficiently sturdy to avoid excessive deformation which would require repair of the rack.

Such part holding racks have thus been typically constructed as a steel framework weldment, which is heavy and subject to corrosion. Also, steel being rigid, is susceptible to permanent deformation when severely loaded despite its great strength. Aluminum has also been used but its higher cost and lower strength has limited its used for this purpose.

The major problem in such part holding racks is their cost and the time required to design and build the racks. This is because a great variety of part shapes are required to be accommodated, which part shapes changes from year to year.

This has necessitated a custom design for most parts and a great number of holding rack configurations is required.

A welded framework construction while providing strength has the disadvantage of being bulky when being shipped and making repairs on damaged racks difficult. Modification to accommodate different part shapes are difficult or completely impractical.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a part holding rack for automotive assembly which can be shipped disassembled for compactness, and easily assembled on site.

It is yet another object to provide a part holding rack which has components which can be removed and reused if other components are damaged, or if the rack becomes obsolete.

It is still another object provide part holding racks which can be quickly designed and built in many different configurations and which can be easily modified to accommodate a different part.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

These and other objects of the present invention which will be understood upon a reading of following specification and claims are achieved by a modular construction of a three dimensional framework part holding rack according to the invention. This construction includes a framework provided by an array of horizontal and vertical elongated members assembled together with connector fittings receiving and holding member ends.

A welded rectangular frame base has an assembled thereto an upper framework with corner posts receiving the lower ends of vertical members forming portions of the upper framework.

The elongated members and connectors can be reused if the rack is damaged and also allow reconfiguration of the rack by relocating the connections and/or shortening of the elongated members.

The part holding racks may be shipped flat and disassembled and put together on site with unskilled labor.

Variously configured racks can be quickly designed and assembled from the modular components. The elongated members can be made of metal or advantageously of a lightweight low cost composite materials and can be easily cut to any desired length to produce a rack of any particular design.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a part holder rack according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a pictorial view of a second embodiment of a part holder rack according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded pictorial view of an upper post connector incorporated in the part holder rack shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a pictorial of a T connector incorporated in the rack shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a pictorial view of a base frame corner post component with a fragmentary portion of tube member sections welded thereto.

FIG. 5A is an exploded view of the post shown in FIG. 5 with a fragmentary portion of a mating post connector of a next below rack.

FIG. 6 is a pictorial view of an angled connector included in the part holder rack shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, certain specific terminology will be employed for the sake of clarity and a particular embodiment described in accordance with the requirements of 35 USC 112, but it is to be understood that the same is not intended to be limiting and should not be so construed inasmuch as the invention is capable of taking many forms and variations within the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings and particularly FIG. 1, a part holder rack 10 according to the present invention is illustrated. The rack part holder 10 includes a standardized rectangular frame base 14. Base frame 14 is a weldment including pairs of parallel horizontal steel tubes 16, 18 vertically spaced apart to allow entry of fork lift bars, and are welded at either end to tubular corner posts 20 at each corner of the frame 14 base which extend above the pairs of members 16, 18.

An upper framework 12 includes an array of elongated vertical members 22 comprised of square tubes each having a lower end inserted in the open upper end of a respective tubular corner post 20. The vertical members 22 may be constructed of a composite material such as glass filled resins of a suitable strength or of a metal such as aluminum or steel.

A respective top nesting connector 24 receives the upper end of each vertical member 22 and is detachably secured with threaded fasteners as indicated.

A series of upper horizontal elongated members 26 are also included in the upper framework 12 with the horizontal and vertical members 22, 26 having ends variously intersecting each other to form said upper framework 12. The intersection members of ends are received in a respective top nesting connectors 24 to form a three dimensional framework, here forming a box in combination with the base frame 14.

The horizontal members 24 may be constructed from square tubing of a composite material or of metal such as aluminum or steel. Intermediate angled brace members 28 extending at acute angles to horizontal members may optionally be included having either end received in an angle connector 30 received over a respective horizontal member 26 and an upper base horizontal member 18.

Also, a support member 32 may be provided for holding dunnage elements (not shown) mounted extending across the upper framework 12 on a pair of intermediate vertical elongate members 34, by pairs of T connectors 36 received on two opposing base members 18 and two upper framework members 26.

FIG. 3 shows details of the top nesting connectors 24 which includes a short square tube sections 38 preferably of steel, having a post flange 40 welded closing of the upper end. The post flange 40 includes a vertical post feature 42 formed therein.

Two shorter square tube sections 44 a welded to two orthogonal sides of tubing section 38 extending horizontally therefrom. The ends of the respective horizontal members 26 are held in respective tubing sections 44 by sets of bolts, nuts, and washers 46.

The details of the base posts 20 are shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, which are constructed of an outer section 48 of heavy square tubing preferably of having bolt holes 50 drilled on two sides (through holes drilled after insertion of the vertical members 22).

A short tube section 52 of a lighter gauge is nested into the lower end of outer section 48, welded through cut out holes 54 in sidewalks. The short tube sections 52 limit the movement of the vertical elongate members 22 thereinto and provide a smaller opening for receiving post features 42 of a lower rack indicated in FIG. 8.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the two respective orientations of a T connector 36, which comprise two short square tubing sections 56, 58 welded together with an end of section one 58 welded to the side of the other. Nut, bolt and washer assemblies 60 passing through aligned drilled holes in each section join the connectors to ends of members 34 and to an intermediate portion of the horizontal members 26 lying at right angles to each other.

FIG. 5 shows details of the angled connectors 30, which comprise a short square straight steel tubing section 62 and on angled section 64 welded to the side of section 62. Bolt, nut and washer sets 66 secure the respective members 18 and 28 to sections 62, 64.

The upper framework 12 can variously be configured in many ways to be adapted to hold a particular part.

FIG. 2 shows another configuration of a part holder rack 68, which includes a base 14A and in which end sections are absent in an upper framework and a single intermediate crossmember 70 is provided either end attached to horizontal members 26 with a double T connectors 72.

Intermediate vertical members 22A have an upper end secured by double T connectors 72. A single pair of vertical members 22A are located intermediate the lengths of the horizontal elongated members 26.

The ends of the horizontal elongated members 26 are connected to vertical members 22A with upper post connectors 74, details of which are shown in FIG. 4. The vertical steel tube section 76 has only a single horizontal short tube section 78 welded to one side. Square holes 80 are adapted to be fit to carriage bolt heads 82. A post flange 84 is welded atop the tube section 76, with a vertical post feature 86 formed thereon for nesting to an above located rack.

The vertical elongated members 22A are shown as extrusions of a composite material.

Dunnage elements 88, 90, 92 are mounted within the rack 68 for supporting a part (not shown).

Thus, it can be appreciated that a part holder rack can be assembled at a site from the components shipped flat.

Various configurations can be assembled from standardized components to quickly enable new rack configurations to be designed and built.

The components can be salvaged if a rack becomes damaged, and racks can be reconfigured easily.

A parts rack according to the invention thus greatly reduces costs of an item which is required by automotive manufacturers in great members and in many different configurations. 

1. A part holding rack comprising: a rectangular base framework having four corners and including upright short tube sections fixed at each corner of the base frame; an upper framework including elongated vertical members having lower ends received in said upright tube sections, said upper framework comprising a three dimensional array of elongated vertical and horizontal members connected together with readily detachable connectors thereby allowing ready replacement or recovery of members which are damaged or recovery of members and connectors from damaged racks.
 2. The part holding rack according to claim 1 wherein said members are formed of square tubing and said connectors comprise short sections of steel tubing sized to slidably receive ends of said members with ends which intersect each other in said upper framework and further including fasteners securing said intersecting member ends therein.
 3. The part holding rack according to claim 1 wherein said members are formed of square tubing and said connectors comprise short sections of steel tubing sized to slidably receive ends of said members with ends which intersect each other in said upper framework which intersect each other and further including fasteners securing said intersecting member ends therein and wherein said vertical and horizontal members are formed of a composite materials.
 4. The part holding rack according to the part holding rack according to claim 1 wherein said members are formed of square tubing and said connectors comprise short sections of steel tubing sized to slidably receive ends of said members with ends which intersect each other in said upper framework, and further including fasteners securing said intersecting member ends therein wherein said vertical and horizontal members are formed of a composite materials wherein said rectangular base is formed of steel tubing members welded together.
 5. The part holding rack according to claim 2 wherein said upper framework forms a rectangular box framework overlying said base frame with four upright elongated members having a lower end received in a respective corner post, and four horizontal elongated members respectively extending between each of said four vertical members, with a steel connector at an upper end of each vertical member having three fixed together tube sections receiving an upper end of a respective vertical member and the ends of two horizontal members intersecting at said corner.
 6. The part holding rack according to claim 5 further including a nesting post feature at the top of each of said corner connectors receivable in a bottom opening of a respective base corner post of another rack placed thereon.
 7. The part holding rack according to claim 5 further including an intermediate elongated tubular bracing members extending between one or more of said horizontal members of said upper framework and said base framework and T connectors holding said ends of said bracing members to said horizontal members at a point intermediate the length thereof.
 8. The part holding rack according to claim 5 further including an intermediate elongated tubular bracing members extending between one or more of said horizontal members of said upper framework and said base framework and T connectors holding said ends of said bracing members to said horizontal members at a point intermediate the length thereof wherein one or more of said bracing members extends at an acute angle to said horizontal members.
 9. A method of constructing holding racks for automotive parts assembled into automotive vehicles in an automotive assembly plant comprising: constructing a three dimensional framework of elongated vertical and horizontal members able to be connected together at their ends by steel connectors and detachably assembling said members with said connectors by removable fasteners.
 10. The method according to claim 9 wherein at least some of said connectors are slidably movable along the length of elongated members and receive an end of another intersecting member.
 11. The method according to claim 9 further including constructed a weldment of elongated steel members and connected at intersecting ends with short upright tubular corner pieces and assembling an upper framework together of said elongated vertical and horizontal members with at least some of said vertical members having lower ends received a respective one of said corner pieces and detachably securing the same therein.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein said upper framework elongated members are extruded from a composite material.
 13. The method according to claim 9 further including reconfiguring framework for a different post by disassembling said members and reassembling the members to accommodate said different part.
 14. A method of repairing a rack constructed by the method of claim 9 by disassembling said framework and removing a damaged part and replacing the same and reassembling said framework. 